A WARRINGTON golfer will play an important role for the European team in next year's Ryder Cup.

This weekend Derrick Cooper should have been at the core of Europe's attempts to capture the coveted Ryder Cup off Tiger Woods and company.

But due to the recent terrorist attacks in America the prestigious competition planned for The Belfry has been postponed until 2002 amid concerns about the players' safety.

So Birchwood-attached professional Cooper, aged 46, and the selected players will have to wait another year for the chance to help plot the American team's downfall after their controversial jeering fans' victory in Brookline two years ago.

Cooper's leading role in the European camp is to advise captain Sam Torrance on tactics.

He said: "My duties are to monitor the American players in action, analyse their current form and advise Sam about which of our players should be pitched against them. It is a great honour to be asked to help the European cause and having done a similar job when Mark James was European captain two years ago I believe that I have the necessary experience and knowledge to make a real contribution to Europe's challenge.

"It's just a shame that the Ryder Cup has been held back a year as I was so looking forward to the event. But in light of what has been happening in America I think that the right decision has been made."

Cooper got the call to help mastermind a European victory on the back of the substantial reputation he has built up during his 26-year professional career.

As a player he reached the heights of finishing 19th in the Order of Merit in 1989. He also won the Madrid Open in 1988 and he narrowly lost out on a Ryder Cup spot a year later to Christy O'Conner Jnr.

He left the European Tour last year and he now devotes most of his time to his roles as a member of the European Tour's board of directors and director of golf for the European Seniors Tour.

Cooper has been a close friend of Torrance, who is his son's Godfather, for more than 20 years. They have played together on numerous occasions over the years so Torrance will be fully aware of the attributes Cooper will bring to the European team.

Cooper said: "Sam knows what I can offer the team. He and I go back along way. His dad used to coach me.

"But I have got my place in the team on merit and I am very confident that I can help Europe to defeat the Americans.

"I believe Europe has a very strong team. Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn are outstanding players who are in great form at the moment and with the likes of Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik also in the squad they have a great chance of winning.

"But it won't be easy. America have a strong front line with the likes of David Duval and Tiger Woods in their ranks."